About Us
come to the well
The Well at Wild Rose Country was started during the pandemic of 2020 by Brian and Meda Weir. They were soon joined by Donna Johnson Schnarr in leadership. We are a SisterWELL under the leadership of The Well at Surf City in Huntington Beach, California. Brian and Meda Weir were friends with Senior Paster David Housholder when the lived in the United States. Our church meets at the Weirs 'home outside of Edmonton, Alberta near the town of Calahoo.
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Small and Relational. Not for those looking for big-box churches with lots of flashy programs. But we WILL provide non-disposable, go-the-distance relationships and an eternal Family of Destiny.
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Spirit-Filled. You could call us "Charismatic" or "Pentecostal," but not the "swing from the chandeliers" kind. Very casual and relaxed. We believe and encourage the use of all the biblical spiritual gifts.
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Egalitarian. We believe in having men and women share equally in all levels of leadership.
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Biblically Conservative. We trust the Bible and teach that it is true, without reservation. But we are not legalistic.
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Grace Orientation. God is gracious with us. We are gracious with one another.
our pastors:
David Housholder
Senior Pastor
Fulbright Scholar in New Testament. VW Bus guy.
Tamara Durica
Associate Pastor
Preacher. Multi-vocational. Cursillo and BSF veteran. MC during our services.
Kim Hynes
Worship Pastor
Angels fan. Notre Dame football enthusiast. Dental office manager.
Stan Kadowaki
Vice-president
Second in command. Biblical finance professional.
Jennifer Sorrell
Team Youth Director
Edna Doyle
Worship Arts Pastor
Come To The Well
The Little House Church with A Big Heart.
The Well at Wildrose Country was started during the pandemic of 2020 by Brian and Meda Weir. They were soon joined by Donna Johnson Schnarr in leadership. We are a SisterWELL under the leadership of The Well at Surf City in Huntington Beach, California. Serving Parkland County, Alberta and surrounding area.
History of how we started
The story began in June 1999 .
Brian was hired to a new position headquartered in Minnesota, USA. Our boys were in the twenties so we felt this was a great time for us to have a new adventure. We knew from the start it would be short term. God had many plans and purposes to fulfill during our time in Burnsville and Farmington, however so that you understand our journey and the steps we took to planting a house church I will try to stay on track.
We settled in to an apartment in Burnsville and began to get our little nest feeling like home. My first goal was to get connected in a church and meet people. After a few visits to various churches a fellow in one of the churches we attended said “You will like Hosanna, it is near where you live” That leading took us right where God wanted us. We attended one service and felt quite overwhelmed as there were hundreds of people and many services. The following week I attended a ladies bible study and met several ladies. The bible study leader suggested Brian and I go to an Alpha weekend that was happening the next Saturday. I went home and suggested to Brian that we attend to meet people and begin making friendships. What happened that day changed our lives forever. We met and prayed with Dave and Wendy Housholder, during the prayer session and Brian was filled with the Holy Spirit. That day Brian was overjoyed and thus began a journey with a men’s bible study and many Alpha courses that we participated in and helped lead., and a friendship with Dave and Wendy.
We returned home to Alberta in 2003 and life carried on with lots of twists and turns, ups and downs. When the pandemic hit in Feb/March of 2020 Dave contacted me via FB messenger and friend requested to me. Then he invited me to the WELL AT SURF CITY Facebook page. We began to listen to daily podcasts and Sunday services and in July of 2020 we felt the call to become “Well Diggers” thus planting a church or missionary outreach. For us it is a house church that we felt led to establish. To date in spite of the restrictions due to the pandemic we have become incorporated, chosen and completed some missions work locally and internationally, Set up a Board of Trustees, met together when allowed, prayed together, and are on the path to secure our charity status. We are excited for how the Lord will lead us in the future and invite you to join us on this journey.
Meda Weir
how we are different:
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Small and Relational. Not for those looking for big-box churches with lots of flashy programs. But we WILL provide non-disposable, go-the-distance relationships and an eternal Family of Destiny.
-
Spirit-Filled. You could call us "Charismatic" or "Pentecostal," but not the "swing from the chandeliers" kind. Very casual and relaxed. We believe and encourage the use of all the biblical spiritual gifts.
-
Egalitarian. We believe in having men and women share equally in all levels of leadership.
-
Biblically Conservative. We trust the Bible and teach that it is true, without reservation. But we are not legalistic.
-
Grace Orientation. God is gracious with us. We are gracious with one another.
Our Pastors & Leadership:
Brian Weir
President / Senior Pastor
Certified Clergy
Retired Mechanical Engineer.
Outdoor winter sports enthusiast
Meda Weir
Pastoral Councillor - Certified Clergy
Secretary/Treasurer
Counceling
Donna Johnson
Trustee
Trudy Lohr
Trustee
Marilyn Swan
Trustee
Linda Vannoy-Castillo
Blessings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ
We are reaching out to you today to tell you our story of how the Well At Wildrose Country was founded. Our full story can be found on our website at www.thewellatwildrosecountry.ca
In March of 2020 about the time the pandemic was raging across our world and many closures began to happen a former pastor who we had met and gotten to know Pastor Dave Housholder, and his wife Wendy from the well@surfcity.com at Huntington Beach, California reached out to let us know that the church he was currently serving was preparing to stream services and podcasts and invited us to connect with them. We live in a rural area and had been having difficultly streaming local services. As Covid19 virus numbers increased churches and schools and non-essential services closed. This left us and many other people confused and disconnected. As a result we began to stream daily podcasts, devotionals and Sunday sermons on a regular basis as well as Alpha where we began to feel spiritually fed, blessed and connected through sharing fellowship and prayer.
The Zoom platform became our lifeline to the world bringing hope, in the midst of chaos and trauma. As spring gave way to summer and we were able get outside and enjoy nature and our yard and garden it helped us heal and move into the next phase God was preparing.
In July of 2020 having listened to Pastor Dave talk about “becoming Well Diggers” many times Brian and began to sense that we had a “calling” to “dig a well’. This meant begin a ministry. So in August of 2020 we did just that. At this time a very special person in my life, Donna Johnson caught the vision along with Brian and I joined the team. Then two other precious ladies came on board.
We held our first service at our home in Calahoo with four people in attendance. Under Pastor Dave’s leadership we began training for ministry and have continued throughout the year each Sunday evening on Zoom.
We began the process of becoming a church but in the meantime, we felt we just needed to do ministry. We offered my ongoing counseling that I had been doing for many years as well as hands on support of some local missions that you will see on our website. On Nov 1 we held a packing party to prepare Operation Christmas Child boxes with the help of 10 people and Donna Johnson who is a veteran OCC, shopper and packer as a long time Samaritans Purse supporter she collects all year so we filled tables with toys, and gifts and clothing. Brian and I and Donna completed and checked and delivered 30 boxes to a local church in Spruce Grove.
We continued meeting for online services and carrying on local ministries as well as participating in online Alpha throughout the year. In the Fall of 2020 we hired Carolyn Fisher of Limon Tree Designs to complete our website and get it up and running.
By February we had become incorporated as a non-profit and as I write this letter to you we are in the process of getting our charity status.
We formed our board of trustees and began our meetings on Zoom, in March 2021. In May Brian and I took a leap of faith and began to stream videos on our newly launched facebook page. Check out our daily devotionals.
Today because you are very special people in our lives we wanted you to know about this ministry. In this changing world of online connection our world has become more connected. We are currently praying for more people to join our Board of Trustees. If you feel God is calling you to become a part of the leadership team of The Well At Wildrose Country please reach out to us by email, through our website or by phone and we will be happy to lead you through the steps of becoming a trustee. You may want to pray for us, or support our missions here in Canada and Internationally. If you do we would be so grateful. We know God will bring the people he wants to be a part of our house/online church.
If you would like to know more please contact us through our website and if you would like to support us financially you can send an e-transfer or check.
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
Mark 16:15